St. Bonaventure University hosted Sr. Helen Prejean’s talk on Nov. 11, 2008 regarding her vocation helping the poor and crusade to abolish capital punishment. Following bio is an 8-part YouTube video of her presentation.

“Sister Helen Prejean was born on April 21, 1939, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille (now known as The Congregation of St. Joseph) in 1957 and received a B.A. in English and Education from St. Mary’s Dominican College, New Orleans in 1962. In 1973, she earned an M.A. in Religious Education from St. Paul’s University in Ottawa, Canada. She has been the Religious Education Director at St. Frances Cabrini Parish in New Orleans, the Formation Director for her religious community, and has taught junior and senior high school students.

Sister Helen began her prison ministry in 1981 when she dedicated her life to the poor of New Orleans. While living in the St. Thomas housing project, she became pen pals with Patrick Sonnier, the convicted killer of two teenagers, sentenced to die in the electric chair of Louisiana’s Angola State Prison.

Dead Man Walking

Upon Sonnier’s request, Sister Helen repeatedly visited him as his spiritual advisor. In doing so, her eyes were opened to the Louisiana execution process. Sister Helen turned her experiences into a book that not only made the 1994 American Library Associates Notable Book List, it was also nominated for a 1993 Pulitzer Prize. Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States was number one on the New York Times Best Seller List for 31 weeks. It also made the International Best Seller List and has been translated into ten different languages.

In January 1996, the book was developed into a major motion picture starring Susan Sarandon as Sister Helen and Sean Penn as a death row inmate. Produced by Polygram Pictures, the film was directed and written by Tim Robbins. The movie received four Oscar nominations including Tim Robbins for Best Director, Sean Penn for Best Actor, Susan Sarandon for Best Actress, and Bruce Springsteen’s “Dead Man Walkin'” for Best Song. Susan Sarandon won the award for Best Actress.”

With a fight underway in Congress over protecting more U.S. waterways from industrial pollution, Environment America has issued a report looking at the millions of dollars spent on politics each year by polluters. Besides the Kansas-based oil and chemical giant, other big-spending polluters include Southern meat processors and an energy company. Image: More […]

Communities in West Virginia and Alabama are among those that have experienced fiery disasters when trains hauling crude oil derailed, and the government expects more incidents like these due to the oil shale drilling boom. So why are industry interests blocking new regulations that aim to protect the public? Image: A protest held last year in Wisconsin dre […]

The N.C. Home Builders Association has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars supporting legislators' campaigns and employs a team of powerful lobbyists in Raleigh. What does it want in return? Image: The N.C. Home Builders Association has long been one of the most powerful forces in North Carolina politics. Appreciate this post? Please donate & sh […]

A strike among oil refinery workers continues into the fourth week as negotiations continue. The strike was sparked by concerns over safety standards. Image: A nationwide strike by oil refinery workers seeking safer working conditions is in its fourth week and involves facilities in four states including Louisiana and Texas. (Photo by United Steelworkers.) […]

The Atlanta-based utility giant is in the news for funding a controversial researcher whose work has been used to cast doubt on the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity is driving global warming. It isn't the first time the company has been involved in promoting questionable climate science. Image: The Southern Company is not only poll […]

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in the United States to address the pro-Israeli lobby group AIPAC and Congress, we feature Noam Chomsky's United Nations address on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People . Chomsky is Institute Professor Emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he’s taught for more than half a cen […]

By Amy Goodman with Denis Moynihan President Barack Obama issued the third veto in his more than six years in office, rejecting S.1 (Senate Bill One), the “Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act.” This was the new congressional Republican majority’s first bill this year, attempting to force the construction of a pipeline designed to carry Canadian tar sands oil t […]

As Democracy Now! continues to mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, we are joined by his daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz, and friend, A. Peter Bailey. Both were inside the Audubon Ballroom on Feb. 21, 1965, the day Malcolm X was shot dead. Shabazz was just two years old, while Bailey was among the last people to speak with Malcolm X that da […]

Watch a recent address by Spain's Podemos Secretary General Pablo Iglesias, a political science professor and activist who could become the country's next prime minister if his anti-austerity party wins the national elections later this year. Last May, Podemos surprised many when it received 1.2 million votes and five seats in the European Parliame […]

Episode 249: BOOM! We have a wonderful edition of Edge of Sports for you this week. Royce White, mental health advocate and former NCAA star basketball player, stops by the studio and gives his take on the Larry Sanders incident. He explains what the NBA could and should be doing better with regards to the mental health of its players.

Episode 248: BOOM! Dave, Coach, and Dan reflect on the latest injury to Derrick Rose. Sekou Smith, NBA Hangtime Blog, explains how the Atlanta Hawks making the NBA Finals would be one of the biggest post-Magic Johnson surprises ever. Sekou tells Dave if he's right or wrong about the level of greatness of Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis. Ken Reed, Au […]

Episode 247: BOOM! We have a great show for you this week. Fresh off the NBA All-Star weekend, Dave ponders the future of Kevin Durant. And not just because of his rant about the media. He and Coach debate if he’s reached the peak of his powers on the court already. Richard Kent updates the group on the NCAA season from the domination of UConn Women’s Basket […]

Episode 246: BOOM! Dave, Coach, and Mark dive right into the fiasco surrounding Jackie Robinson West having their Little League World Series title being stripped. They share memories about legendary NCAA Men’s Basketball coaches Dean Smith (UNC) and Jerry Tarkanian (UNLV) after their passing over the past week. Finally, journalist Parker Molloy, discusses th […]

House ethics rules bar lawmakers from accepting travel and related expenses from registered lobbyists. The House Majority Leader has said that his expenses on a 2000 trip were paid by a nonprofit organization, and that the financial arrangements for it were proper.

Five months after President Bush launched his drive to overhaul Social Security, the difficult, if not impossible, task of drafting legislation begins Tuesday when the Senate Finance Committee holds the first hearing on options to secure Social Security's future.

Years ago, the federal government spent $117 million on an experimental "clean coal" power plant in Alaska designed to generate electricity with a minimum of air pollution -- but the project never got up and running.